To think my cleaner shouldn’t bring her own child to work?

I'm not sure what that's got to do with anything? They are my staff and I am their employer...

Do people really live with this level of whataboutery?

I believe doitorleaveit understands that.

She’s still reliable, she’s not unreliable!

Do you know the meaning of reliable?

I don’t know. You’d need to check your house insurance, your civil liability and that of the cleaner/ company employing the cleaner. Would you be classed as a childminder as you’re looking after an employees child? depending on the definition used by the insurance of a guest - if the cleaner has a contract with you or a company how is bringing a child to work dealt with - I don’t know this answer. You’d need to check up on this.

@Informerceraplease don’t do this, it’s only a few more weeks, she’s clearly great at her job and you could cause such problems for her. You could maybe suggest she uses headphones for the iPad. I think that’s fine, but I just couldn’t read and run - I just think you’re making a mistake here. There’s no harm.

I think you don't understand that the cleaner is providing a service she's not part of the family.

She should have asked if it was ok but I’d have no problem with this, other than feel sorry for the kid as she must spend much of her day going from house to house!

In my experience this is normal with cleaners and I personally don’t mind. However she should have asked you rather than assuming it’s ok.

Maybe she owns the business and employs other cleaning staff 🤔

At the end of the day childcare is expensive and hard to come by in this day and age. If I had someone doing work at my house I.e cleaner, plumber etc and they had to bring their child or honestly wouldn’t bother me. We are all trying to get by and earn money.

I think one of the problems here is that the cleaner is not being treated as human.

My family is Caribbean by descent and in those countries, the 'cleaner' is offered any food or drink that the family is eating.

I've seen posts on here with people bemoaning that their cleaners drank some water from the fridge in a 4 hour shift.

The cleaner is a person.

I think the OP has a problem with the fact that the cleaner is a mother and that is in the OP's face. OP just wanted to open the door to let the cleaner in, and then when OP next opens the door, the cleaner leaves and the house is spotless. The cleaner could be a vacuum, a robot, whatever, but not a human.

In which case you show the cert not a policy with personal information on.

There was a thread last week about a builder and his 12 year old, if you want to find out!

I wouldn't mind since the child is quiet and well behaved but it would annoy me a bit that the cleaner hadn't even asked. And no way would I be getting/serving snacks and drinks. I would be working myself not hosting "guests".

'My staff' - I presume you earn more than they do then!!

It seems ridiculous to me that you would object to a quiet, well-behaved child sitting on your sofa for 2 hours a week. Her presence “changes the dynamic”? Good God. But I see you have decided to speak to the cleaner “gently.” 🙄 Just don’t be surprised if she gently informs you that she won’t be working for you any longer.

Someone working in your house is not a "guest", and I'm not convinced that household insurance covers accidents caused by or to people being paid. That's why they do tend to have insurance.

Sadly, as most of the trades you list are carried out by men, they’re more likely to expect the mothers of their children to sort out childcare in the holidays. In addition, those tradespeople likely earn a damn sight more per hour than a cleaner - in my area an electrician will charge well over £300 for a day’s work whereas a cleaner charges around £15 an hour. Once men start to take equal responsibility in childcare arrangements and women being paid equally to men, then you’ll see more women being able to work and pay for quality childcare in the school holidays.

Professional cleaner here!

I personally take my daughter to one clean and one clean only. The customer offered as she's elderly and likes the company. I wouldn't take my daughter with me to any others and I wouldn't expect my staff to take their children.

If she didn’t ask for permission to bring her daughter in I wouldn’t be happy but I would be pondering whether I can put up with the girl being at home for a few hours a week for 3 more weeks or risk having to find another cleaner.

There's so many things over the years of growing up actually. And my appreciation for these people went a long way. I was a young adult, one lady struggled to walk her dogs and take care of her mum with dementia - I was local. She knew me growing up. I went and walked the dogs daily during my lunch break from work because I genuinely like this lady. I grew up seeing that lady here or there when my father was working for her. I didn't hesitate to help, thanks to her kindness a decade back. I only helped for a few weeks until she organised another carer (she was at work so it was only lunchtime I went). Another needed an extra pair of hands at her company for a week or two and I offered, taking time off my regular job to help her out (I got paid too but it was more about doing the favour when she was having issues). As my father's company did work for her company (and private homes) my father was told "oh we are struggling need extra hands" and he'd mention it to me and I offered. She showed me great kindness growing up too!

The best thing I can do now is carry that kindness forward. I hope I can at least inspire any kids be it my kids friends or kids that get brought in by tradespeople etc and for them to know there's kindness out there. Soooo many memories!

100% agree with you, I think they also didn't want to lose my father's service or wait until he had childless availability! Ahh so many warm memories! As long as the children aren't feral, I agree!

Christ - I mean immediately I want to say YABU. Maybe she doesn’t have or can’t afford childcare. It’s not like she’a a destructive child - I would personally not care. BUT - you have no kids and you don’t want them in your house - you shouldn’t have to have them in your house. Just find another cleaner I guess because you’ll put her in a strange spot if she had to pay for childcare or can’t afford it. And maybe the next cleaner specify no one else but her to be in the house to clean etc. good luck.

Uhuh, I said it ISN’T about any kind of sisterhood.

What the cleaner is doing may be unacceptable to you, that’s fine, you don’t ever have to allow it for any reason. If it makes you so uncomfortable that you would rather inconvenience someone who has proven to be reliable, trustworthy and good at their job, that’s your choice. In this situation you should recognise that the cleaner could probably fill her spot 3 times over and might well just say fine, if it doesn’t work for you, I can work for someone else and then you’re back at square one trying to find a good cleaner.

To state that what she’s doing is unacceptable in any circumstance, for any person is not a fact. Plenty of people here, myself included would be quite happy with it. I’ve been on both sides of the equation, having to take my daughter with me to work because there was no alternative, and having tradies bring their kids to my home.

It isn’t about “Be Kind” or not liking strong women (I’m one of those also) it’s about weighing up how you feel against because of a person’s actions and whether your feeling of discomfort or whatever is stronger than what you’re reaction would do to them, and what the consequences are. If OP is badly affected by this, she can of course ask for it not to happen. That may have consequences, it’s up to her if she can live with them.

This is a reason why I'm against it as well as the fact she didn't even ask in the first place.

I WFH and mine are in childcare, I'd expect that of anyone if they come to work in my house. If they had some kind of emergency and had no childcare, I'd consider it for an older, well behaved child but only if they asked first.